Friday, March 6, 2015

David Roitstein and Larry Koonse: Conversations

Larry
Koonse started to play guitar at age 7, and was only 15 when he recorded his
first jazz album with his father, Dave, also a guitarist (Father and Son Jazz Guitars). I covered one of their more recent
collaborations several years back — Dialogue of the Heart — which led to
infrequent but always engaging correspondence with Larry.

He sent along a discography
of his other releases — there are dozens — and I’ve made it a point to catch up
with as many as possible. He’s a master of his instrument, and one of my
favorite artists.

Conversations, a duet with
pianist David Roitstein, is one of Koonse’s newest releases. He and Roitstein
composed six of the 10 tracks; the others come from Darek Oleszkiewizk (bassist
on many of Koonse’s albums), Lea Freire, Antonio Carlos Jobim (“Luiza”) and
Thelonious Monk (“Think of One”).Jazz
can swing; it can be joyous; it can be beautiful. Occasionally, it can be all
of these things at the same time. On this album, Koonse and Roitstein have
achieved that pinnacle.